The following section provides a short definition of the central Web Service technologies SOAP and WSDL. Using these technologies, the Application Server can:
Provide existing functions ( BAPI s, RFM s, IDocs, EJBs) as Web services
Process Web services from any Web service provider.
SOAP
SOAP ( Simple Object Access Protocol) is an XML-based protocol for information exchange in a decentralized, distributed environment. The following elements are defined by a SOAP specification:
A processing model for messages
An envelope for the exchange of XML documents
Error handling
The use of a transport protocol (for example, HTTP)
An encryption schema for data types
WSDL
WSDL ( Web Services Description Language) is an XML format for the description of Web services. The following elements are defined by WSDL:
The Web service interface (IDL)
One or more transport protocols that are used as access to the Web service (for example, SOAP)
The Service Endpoints (URL)
For information about creating and using Web services, see the following links: